Stupidly Simple Arbitrage Review

Recently we’ve been discussing dropshipping on I’ve Tried That, so when I saw a new product released that discusses arbitrage I just had to take a closer look.

Stupidly Simple Arbitrage (SSA) by Phil Henderson states it’s the #1 most stupidly simple way to make money online.

Let’s see if how truthful that is.

The Stupidly Simple Arbitrage Pitch

The rather long sales letter for SSA starts with some interesting claims, the first being that even if you’ve never used a computer before you can make money online with SSA.

From there the pitch continues with Phil understanding hoe you’ve already been burnt by various systems and scams, and how they have never amounted to anything.

Of course, he goes on to tell you that Stupidly Simple Arbitrage is the one system out there that isn’t a scam and can help you make money online.

A testimonial video comes next which seems valid, I certainly couldn’t trace that it was a Fiverr.com gig, which is a rarity.

The Facebook testimonials as well seem genuine. At least the people do: they are real people but I couldn’t see anything on their profile that suggests a link to SSA, though that in itself isn’t proof of anything.

These are promising factors, as by now I am normally seeing quite a negative pattern of hype and lies, and while there is certainly some hype, overall my scam-radar hasn’t been set off.

However, there is some cause for concern in the statements being made such as no upfront costs and no websites needed. While both of these statements might be technically true I doubt that in reality you can get away with no costs or website.

Purchasing Stupidly Simple Arbitrage

The cost of this product was $9.97 at the time of writing. The purchase was followed by a webinar sign up page that looked like it was starting in just a few minutes. I signed up for this out of interest to discover it was actually a pre-recorded video about the system.

There was no upsells that I saw, though perhaps the webinar video led to some as the affiliate page suggests there’s one upsell and downsell. I can’t confirm this as I opened the video in another tab to stop the fake live webinar from playing.

Luckily I got my sign up details via mail.

After viewing the member’s area, it was clear that there was an upsell for VIP membership because there is a lot of content in the members are that wasn’t available to me.

VIP content outnumbered everything else.

The actual product consists of two e-books: one about physical products and the other about digital products.

It became apparent that this course has been around for a while, seemingly a year, and that elements (namely the digital aspect) have been updated for this release.

Both e-books are well laid out with a mixture of text and images: enough of both not to shown a wall of text or feel like you’re reading a picture book.

Physical Products

This document comes in at 80 pages of content, including the usual fluff like introductions etc.

The training starts by examining exactly what arbitrage is and then moves onto the psychology behind why it works.

All interesting stuff but so riddled with the author waffling on: 19 pages in and only now does the training really start.

Phil discusses how to find the right sort of products to make. He provides examples via stories and lists out some websites that can help you to find popular products on Amazon and eBay.

He also discusses for several pages how to organize data and use things like Google Drive which I felt was a bit too much like filler content, though some people may appreciate it.

The next two sections cover how to research products on both Amazon and eBay and include detailed, but basic methods to find products.

He covers keywords in brief but other than that it was overly simplistic.

A case study follows in which Phil shows you how he used arbitrage to sell products on eBay that would be purchased with Amazon.

This case study was definitely interesting as it laid out how he went about it and there were a few nuggets of information thrown in, such as image tweaking, that were useful to know.

However, can you imagine ordering something off eBay or wherever getting the item and finding out that it was actually sent from Amazon? One quick search and you’ll discover you paid through the nose for the product. It’s not as if Amazon doesn’t include their branding on the delivery, they just don’t include the price on the packing slip.

This can result in a lot of confused buyers and returns.

Phil has a partial answer here:

“We also sell on Amazon and we choose them to ship the goods as they typically arrive with you much quicker”

That’s all well and good, but he doesn’t mention how to handle returns, Nor does he mention how returns end up as the product suppliers problem a lot of the time, causing them headaches and actual losses.

Digital Products

This 43 page e-book is very similar to the physical product e-book, but obviously covers digital goods.

It goes into detail about how you would use Fiverr.com as your source for various services and sell them at inflated prices via classified ads etc.

Will it Work?

The physical product e.book contained a fair bit of information, both from a high level and more detailed. However, at the same time also felt lacking. It felt like this product was just designed to sucker you in to buying the VIP membership which obviously contains a lot more information.

I also disliked how it focuses purely on the Amazon to eBay arbitrage when there are other, just as profitable methods out there.

In the end, it can and most likely will work if, like with most things, you put the time and effort into it.

The Bottom Line

Is Stupidly Simple Arbitrage a scam? No it isn’t, you get some value for your money.

Is it the best possible training that you can get on arbitrage? Probably not. While it was OK and it covered a fair bit, it was also quite narrow in focus as it only covered one broad method per e-book. I also feel that there was a lot of filler content and that it missed some important elements.

As well as that, if you “have never used a computer before” you may well get unstuck with the technical side of things. His method does mean you won’t need to have your own website after all.

Overall I’d rate Stupidly Simple Arbitrage 3 out of 5: it’s something that might get you started but it falls short in a number of areas.

I founded this site back in 2007. I lost $50 to a data entry scam when I was still in college. I felt ripped off and had no recourse, but to suck it up and pull an extra shift delivering food to make ends meet.

I setup this site so no one would have to go through the same experience I went through. I wanted to stop scam artists from preying on the vulnerable and help regular people learn the true, legitimate ways of making money online.

Join the Discussion

First of all, thank you for pointing out the redirect issue. I wasn’t aware the redirect went to a webinar sign up, it should have went to an Special Offer page for full step by step video training. (this has now been resolved).

Secondly, you DO NOT need your own website to do either the Physical Arbitrage or Digital Services Arbitrage methods.

Third, I’ve had ONE issue where a customer complained about the item coming from Amazon, yes only ONE and I know my students have similar experiences.

Arbitrage isn’t new and there are folks making amazing incomes following this very model. Once you research the subject fully you will find forums that will reinforce these methods as being highly viable business methods.

I’ve Tried That was started in 2007 to help protect consumers from falling victim to online scams. We’ve written thousands of articles, helped millions of people, and have saved a countless amount of money from falling into the wrong hands.